Throughout our lives, we have all gone from loving to hating and from hating to loving different foods. For example, as kids we may have hated broccoli, but we could eat ice cream the size of our heads with three types of chocolate, caramel and whipped cream. On the other hand, as we grow up, we become attracted to that hated vegetable, and perhaps we still like chocolate ice cream, but we get bored with such loaded ice cream. The sense of taste changes with agethis is reality, but why?
The truth is that quite a lot of research has been done to try to answer this question. It all can be boiled down to two facts: our needs don’t match when we are small, and that our experiences shape us, also in terms of our sense of taste.
This is just a summary of all the reasons why your sense of taste changes as you age. There are many more small reasons, and the best part is that knowing them can help us even we manipulate ourselves a little. In fact, there are several techniques that can help change our sense of taste and make us enjoy some forbidden foods with pleasure. It’s not easy, but we have nothing to lose by trying. Anyway, before we get to that point, let’s look at how our ability to perceive tastes develops over the years.
The role of taste buds
Humans perceive tastes usually through receptors located in structures known as taste buds. They are in tongue, palate, esophagus and back of the pharynx and they react to contact with certain chemicals, causing signals that, when they reach the brain, also mixed with signals from the sense of smell, are converted into a specific taste.
This is done by all taste buds together. The old map of the language, breaking down its tastes into areas that many of us studied in school, is a myth that has been more than debunked by science. But it is true that as we go through different stages of life, we have less or increased sensitivity to specific tastes. That is, the brain reacts more intensely to some combinations of taste receptor signals than to others.
As children, we prefer sweet and salty.
It has been proven that, in general, children prefer sweet and salty tastes and reject bitter ones. There is actually an evolutionary explanation for this.
Sweetness is associated with high calorie content and therefore energetic. On the other hand, salty is associated with high mineral content which are also necessary for the proper functioning of the body.
In the past, children needed a lot of energy and good nutrition to be able to survive and reach adulthood. Thus, they evolved and developed preferences for foods that satisfied other needs.
Additionally, bitter taste is usually associated with alkaloids. That is, with compounds of plant origin that can be toxic. Children cannot tell when something is dangerous with the naked eye, so avoiding bitterness can help save their lives.
But we know that taste sensations change with age. Does this mean that as adults we no longer need energy or that nothing will happen to us from ingesting poison? Well, it’s actually not that simple. The sense of taste plays a very important role. education. We develop preferences for foods that we usually eat, or even those that are nostalgically associated with the past. This results in us already liking sweet and salty foods and knowing how to eat them in just the right amounts, without our brains having to set off fireworks every time we perceive those flavors.
As for bitter, through trial and error we more or less know what can harm us. Therefore, our brain gradually becomes more tolerant of this taste. It is for this reason that the taste of drinks such as coffee or beer appears with age. Although this is not the only factor that contributes to this.
Genetics also influence what we like and don’t like. In fact, there are genes known to be responsible for why some people like coffee and beer more than others. There are also genes associated with a preference for very specific flavors, such as cilantro. For some it is pleasure, but for others it is the taste of soap. And this is precisely thanks to genes. However, in studies done with twinsIt has been observed that genes influence no more than 54% of food preferences. Everything else is learning.
Other reasons why the sense of taste changes with age
From the moment we are born, we have about 10,000 taste buds, which are lost and replaced every two weeks.
However, with age, from 40-50 years old, some They no longer regenerate as quickly. The number of taste buds may be reduced by up to half. As a consequence, logically, tastes are no longer perceived in the same way. But since this is supposed to be an era in which a large part education, it is not so important. At least not from an evolutionary point of view.
Here’s How You Can Manipulate Your Brain to Change Your Tastes
We all know very healthy products, the taste of which we do not like at all. Sometimes we force ourselves to eat them, but with disastrous results, so we don’t try anymore.
For this reason, two CSIRO scientists specializing in the sense of taste published in Talk an article that gives several tricks to help our brain adapt to new tastes and change our preferences.
The first and most important thing is exposure. We have already seen that taste preferences are created based on training. Therefore, we can take small portions of the food in question. They should not be very large so that we do not get tired, but they should be enough to get used to them. According to these two scientists, this could lead to from 10 to 15 attempts that our preferences are beginning to change.
You can also choose camouflage flavors, mingling with others that are more familiar to us. This technique is not just for children. We can continue to use it when we become adults.
The moment when we try is also important. It’s much better to do it in positive context, like eating with friends, because our brains will associate that taste with the emotional well-being of the environment in which it was consumed. In addition, you should take hungryas the brain will be much more receptive to new tastes.
It is logical that all this will give us better results if we do it before the age of 40, having as many taste buds as possible. But it’s never too late to hack our brains a little. Broccoli is waiting for you, you have nothing to lose by trying it.
Source: Hiper Textual
